New MacBook Pro: Specs, Release Dates and Price

Apple just announced its new MacBook Pro model at its October 27 press event. The update to the MacBook Pro line is welcome, and new specs can be found below.

“You may not realize it, but this week happens to be a huge week,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said during the event. “This week marks the 25th anniversary of our first notebook.”

“For 25 years, we’ve been defining and redefining what a notebook is and what a note book can do. And today, we’re going to do it again,” he said.

Touch Bar

The Touch Bar is context aware, and is shown here with email related options. (Apple)

The most major update to the MacBook Pro includes the addition of a “Touch Bar” where the function keys once were. The toolbar is an OLED touch display, independent from the main display, that shows context-aware menus depending on what the user is doing.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro includes the Touch Toolbar in place of function keys. (Apple)

Apple’s Magic Toolbar was confirmed several days before the event, when the company accidentally leaked photos of the OLED touch toolbar with some Apple Pay promotional photos.

The Touch Bar is also useful when looking through photo galleries, and allows users to scroll with the OLED touch panel. (Apple)

The Touch Bar adapts: in Safari, it shows links to favorite websites, search and back buttons, and can show quick type suggestions while a user is typing — similar to what users see on iPhones. The Touch Bar also has a fingerprint scanner in the power button to integrate Touch ID using a new chip apple is calling the Apple T1 Chip.

The Touch Bar can still allow the function keys to appear if a user holds the function key on the keyboard. In the meantime, the OLED bar changes automatically from app to app. It’s even customizable: there’s a palette of available buttons that users can click and drag into their Touch Bar.

The new Touch Bar on Apple’s MacBook Pro has a fingerprint scanner built in, allowing users to use Apple Pay. (Apple)

Touch ID can also be used to share a machine — multiple users can unlock the same MacBook Pro.

Compared to Previous Generations

The new generation of MacBook Pro will be even thinner and lighter than the previous generation, at 17% thinner than the last MacBook Pro. The 13-inch version weighs only 3lbs, almost half a pound less than the previous version.

There’s a new Force Touch trackpad with a lot more space, a new keyboard with the same “butterfly” mechanism as in the most recent MacBook, and a replacement for the outdated function keys with Touch Bar.

Jackie Petersonis a tech/science contributor for Heavy. She's also a newspaper designer, a huge nerd, and a book blogger. You can follow her on Twitter at @Jackie1Peterson or contact her by email.October 27, 2016 3:47 pm